I have been looking for someone to rebuild several Brake Master Cylinders ("BMC") for our Bagheeras without success.

Replacement seal kits are no longer available. Liability or "Health and Safety" they say! More like greed and their wish to sell a new BMC!

But today I found out that a 1983 Alpha Romeo also used a 20.6mm BMC from ATE (Continental Teves) and it is still available! I have ordered one from our local parts store on Delphi part number LM42242. Price is £58 including taxes (plus delivery??) Their picture shows the same layout and connections although the servo end fitting appears different. Maybe I can change over the end parts?

I have been looking for someone to rebuild several Brake Master Cylinders ("BMC") for our Bagheeras without success.

Replacement seal kits are no longer available...

It's not a case of no longer available Andy. They *never were* available from the start.

But if you see Simons website, from this month he now has Murena brake master cylinder seal kits available for just 20 Euro. These should fit the Bagheera too as the internals are the same to my knowledge.

Roy wrote... Murena brake master cylinder seal kits available from Simon for just 20 Euro. These should fit the Bagheera too

Well done Simon, and thanks Roy for letting us know!

It never seemed to me logical to withhold BMC repair kits while supplying caliper repair kits!

I have ordered the Alfa Romeo (spelt correctly this time - sorry!) BMC and will report back next week.

My local tuning expert, Dermot McGivern of "Power for Peanuts" in Hersham, told me that he has had very little sucess in rebuilding BMC. They either do not work at all or only for a short time. It was his suggestion to look for alternatives used on other car makes in the hope that something might "do". We shall see.

Brake Parts Ltd. look really good! Bagheera rear calipers for £70+VAT. They also do seal kits for the calipers.

The Brake Master Cylinder is recognised for the Bagheera but there is no price given. Availability problem? I have asked for a quotation anyway.

They also have a weird rule in that you are only allowed to look up a certain number of items (which is not defined) before you will be locked out of further access. You have to place an order before you are allowed to look up any more (up to 100) different items! This is a new one for me - rather puts you off checking out all the Bagheera brake parts!

I advise talking with Jürgen Roterberg.He told me that the Solara (or Dacia ?) brake master cylinder are the same with an additional hole.

BMC can allways be rebuilt.I had a problem with my Sprite (dual cylinder). Tried with the one for MGA or drum brake. This gave me better brakes but the volume of fluid pumped out on the clutch side was a bit too much : Slave clutch cylinder expulsed out ...So the original dual cylinder was rebuilt with a sleeve

It never seemed to me logical to withhold BMC repair kits while supplying caliper repair kits!

This is quite logical if you think about it. If an overhauled caliper fails you do not lose all the brakes immediately as only that caliper leaks so the other will work at a reduced effectiveness.

However, if a master cylinder repair failed, you could lose all the brakes without warning. Hence the reasoning behind the repair kit supply.

With a front/rear split system like the Murena, if you lost the rear it would probably not be too bad, but the other way around (losing the front) it would often seem like you have no brakes as the front does most of the work! (actually on a Murena with its mid-engine the rears do more work than a front wheel drive car so the rears would be a bit more effective, but lose the front on a front wheel drive car and the rears on their own would give little braking as the harder you push the pedal the more the rear limiter would close the feed to the rear which you need in these circumstances!)

I have received the Alfa BMC I ordered and done some rough preliminary checks although more detailed checks and measurements need to be done

The mounting of the fluid reservoir seems to be the same and it comes with new rubber bushes.

The end that connects to the servo is different but the part that sticks out may be easily removeable.

There are the two main ports for the front and rear brake pipes but there is an extra one at the opposite end to the servo. I have not discovered what it is for but it may be a brake warning light switch? Any ideas?

More time needed!

I also expect to visit a company in Bedford, England, this week who claim to be able to restore BMC. I will report back later.